Individual behavior &

organizational ethics

Individual Behavior
Definition
Individual Behavior is a combination of
responses to external and internal stimuli.
Individual behavior means some real
action by a person.
The behavior of an individual is
influenced by various factors, some of the
factors lie within himself like her/his
character, internal feelings etc. While
some lie outside him comprising the
external environment of which she/he is
part.

Individual Differences and

Work Behavior
Individual differences have a
direct effect on behavior
People who perceive things
differently behave differently
People respond differently to
commands
People with different
personalities interact differently
with others, bosses, coworkers, subordinates, and
customers

Behavior of an Individual in a
Medical Setup
Everyone in a health care should have a
responsibilities.
Running a health care organization, it is
important that all members of the team weather
on the medical staff, management, understand
the role of governance.

Nursing Error in a Medical Facility

Define:
Simply error is estimated difference between
the observed or calculated value of a something
and its true value.
Nursing error refers to when a nurse gives a
patient improper treatment, generally
unintentionally.
This can include giving the wrong medication
or the wrong dosage of a medication, or mixing
up paperwork like lab results and patient files.
In many cases, error is not even discovered if
the patient does not have any adverse side
effects or physical damages.

What is a nursing error?

A mistake that is made by a nurse that:
Can affect the outcome of something
Causes an adverse effect
Is a result of poor judgment
Is potentially permanent

Nursing Errors
Medication administration:
Given at wrong time, wrong
patient
Lack of documentation of
administration and given
more than once
Not given at all
Given at incorrect site i.e.
intravenous injection in a
subcutaneous site.
Patient neglect
Ignore what the patient is saying

Cont..
Failure to report and monitor
for worsening
Communicating ineffectively
with family and colleagues
during delivery of care
Careless documentation,
inaccurate, not in a timely
manner, and/or failure to
document completely

Some people believe that applying ethics is just a matter of

applying ethical principles to situations. But this is not true.
One reason for this is the fact that there is no generally
accepted ethical theory. And, different ethical theories might
very well result in different judgments. So what should we do
if we run into a new case? Well, we can apply our ethical
theories to it. But we should be open to the possibility that
the new case might reveal a flaw in our theory. Therefore,
you should never blindly apply an ethical theory and rely on
the outcome. Now you may wonder, what are ethical theories
good for anyway? Ethical theories may function as
instruments in discovering the ethical aspects of a
problem/situation. (For example, applying consequentalism is
a good way to explore the consequences of actions.)
Similarly, ethical theories may suggest certain
rguments/reasons that can play a role in moral judgments.

Standards for Ethical Argumentation

At the most basic level, we are concerned in distinguishing things
that are morally required or permitted from those things that
are morally prohibited. The arguments position to make these
distinctions must meet certain standards. These standards are
applicable to all moral argumentation including at the case
level. The minimal standards include:

Impartiality/objectivity
Fairness/consistency
Material comprehensiveness
Universality.

Impartiality/objectivity refers to a lack of partisanshipthe

ability and the willingness to consider all sides in an argument
without prejudice or preference. Impartiality is often used to
refer to a lack of intolerance, bias, or prejudgment.
Fairness refers to the principle that morally similar problems and
situations be treated similarly. Judgments in similar, but not
identical circumstances may differ but should differ only in
relation to the materiality of the differences and should have
clear justification for the divergence.

Universality refers to the idea that ethical arguments have to to

be tested for universal applicability; at the very least they
should be consistent and applicable across all materially
similar situations.
Material comprehensiveness refers to the obligation to have all
material data and information prior to undertaking a decision
or a judgment. It is important to distinguish between the wish
to have all data in hand and the importance of having all
material data in hand.